Diabetes is a metabolic disease (metabolism) characterized by high blood sugar, also called glucose, resulting from disruption of producing or properly using insulin. Insulin is a needed hormone to convert sugar, starches and other food during digestion, providing the human body's key source of energy.
The blood glucose level or the blood sugar concentration is the amount of glucose (sugar) present in the blood of a human or animal. The body naturally tightly regulates blood glucose levels, while the mean normal blood glucose level in humans is about 72 mg/dL (milligrams/deciliter); however, this level fluctuates throughout the day. Blood sugar levels outside the normal range may be an indicator of a medical condition.
More than 18.2 million people (or 6.3 percent of the population) in the United States suffer from diabetes. Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. These complications may be avoided through effective and efficient balance of sugar levels. The usage of a glucometer (also called a glucose meter) may be an essential tool for reaching an optimal balance of blood sugar.
Glucometers are commonly used by diabetic patients for self-monitoring of blood glucose levels (and balancing these levels through the use of medication, diet and physical exercise). Even though, self-monitoring of blood glucose is critical for the long-term well-being of diabetic patients, many patients do not adhere to their prescribed self-monitoring due to a combination of physiological and psychological barriers.
Many glucometers use an electrochemical method, based on test media such as test strips. Test strips are a consumable element containing chemicals that react with glucose in a drop of blood used for each measurement. Some glucometers are provided with sophisticated data handling capabilities, but require using a connecting media, such as a cable for transferring the data of the blood glucose level to a computer with diabetes management software to analyze, display the test results or sending it remotely.
Diabetics may monitor their own glucose level using a glucometer. Making such data accessible to a remote health care professional or a caregiver is facilitated if the glucometer is connected to a computer.
It may further be noted that transmission of medical data to remote care givers may be facilitated by a wired or wireless Internet connection in the home, using a USB cable connection, for example. However, collecting the glucose level data and transmitting is more complicated when a user is outside of his home. For example, the user may be a child at school, or a patient on travel. Unless the user has access to a wired or wireless internet connection, a glucometer cannot transmit recorded glucose levels results to his physician or caregiver.
Moreover, a remote computing device that the user may have on hand, such as the user's cell phone, is not able to cooperate with a glucometer, particularly where the remote computing device is configured as a USB slave and the glucometer requires cooperation with a computer that is configured as a USB master.
Although diabetes is a chronic condition that can have serious consequences, with careful attention to blood sugar control, while using appropriately configured remote communication helping blood glucose level monitoring, many of the problems associated with the disease of diabetes may be avoided.
There is therefore a need, for remote self-monitoring of blood glucose level, with the ability to transfer the necessary measured data to a health care professional and/or caregiver.